553
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
553 points (97.4% liked)
Technology
58135 readers
4362 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related content.
- Be excellent to each another!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
Approved Bots
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
One of the possible answers astrophysicists give for why we haven't seen more evidence of intelligent life in the universe, is that there are technological milestones that lead to doomsday scenarios. They're "great filters" that many advanced civilizations don't survive. The classic example is nuclear fission and the power it gives to destroy. I'm convinced that plastic is one of these filters.
Pretty sure plastics save more.lives than they destroy. Modern medicine isn't nearly as effective without them.
Not necessarily the creation of plastic--I agree that it's very beneficial--but the management of plastic. As we're seeing now, plastic can be very destructive to life when it's used and disposed of irresponsibly. The filter in this case is being able to use plastic for its good without letting its harmful aspects get out of control.
If they end up destroying the whole species?